Steve Thompson

[phoenix blue and tangerine]

Sounds as pissed off as the rest of us. Some of our players need to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror, barely going through the motions and don't look as though they could tackle a Sunday dinner. Criminal performance again.

[Summerdeep]

^ Just wondering, how many of the players are Oldhamers, and how many actually live in the borough?

[yarddog73]

I was going to start a thread as I think his contribution warrants that and also against what I may have said previous I'd give him the job till the end of the season if he wanted it, we really need to get this boxed off because asking him to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear is unfair on him, do you think he really wanted to bring Willoughby on for Dickinson today - did he fuck but he had no other option.

 

Why the fuck are we three week in, unbeaten in six but still not prepared to back him? Do they want him to fail? We are 2 points a game since he come in which is playoff form easily. He knows what we need he sees the same game we do and he knows how to rectify it, we don't have the legs, we don't have enough players with balls big enough to take us forward, it really is as simple as that, one good game every three or four from the likes of Green and Dickinson is no good, these players won't get us promoted because they smash one in from 30 yards every few games, it's the grafters we need, players happy to wear their heart on their sleeve and their bodies on the line NOBODY should be coming to BP and taking the piss like Dagenham did today or Maidenhead on Tuesday, every man should win the battle and then you might just win the war. 

 

To win in this League you need mental toughness, togetherness and a desire greater than the opposition but we have too many hiding, not prepared to push themselves or even show for a teammate, honestly some of them are a fucking embarrassment to themselves, pampered like never before and probably get all fucking precious when someone has the temerity to question them, if they can't be arsed to fight for the shirt or play in a cup final every week then fuck off to Wealdstone where you'll be able to work at Aldi all fucking week in between your two training sessions.

 

I've had a fucking belly full of this now, Royle needs to get his fingers out of his arse and appoint Thompson back him with the four players he says he needs and see where it takes us, currently he has an impossible job in my eyes and that is evidenced by the performances we've turned out today and Tuesday. Fucking sort it out before we get embarrassed at Alty next week and Rochdale the week after.

 

RANT OVER

[Boyyou]

Agree with this, Yarddog. Action to strengthen squad is urgently needed, be it ST or whoever is in charge. Still think he and NR can do a job, but 3 or 4 players a must.

Don't want to sound like an old fart, Yarddog, but can we have a little less of the effing and jeffing. You make perfectly valid points without it.

Mind you, I know some of these players do drive you to distraction!

[diggleblue]

Just give him the job and back him. Players like him and he's one of us.

[trickyrickyholden]

23 minutes ago, diggleblue said:

Just give him the job and back him. Players like him and he's one of us.

I agree. He knows what's needed. Let him get on with it

[Sloshed Joe]

Agreee YardDog, but if ST didn’t want to bring on Kurt for Dickenson then he needs to vary his options on the bench. Hope or Tollitt need to be on there, so if Green or Dickenson have a shocker (like today) we have some width on the bench. And Hope’s best goal scoring season in L2 was playing wide in a front three, so he gives us good options. Kurt was playing more as a CAM today and it’s not his game. I thought he really struggled when he came on and made us worse.

[TheBigDog]

3 hours ago, yarddog73 said:

I’ve had a fucking belly full of this now, Royle needs to get his fingers out of his arse and appoint Thompson back him with the four players he says he needs and see where it takes us, currently he has an impossible job in my eyes and that is evidenced by the performances we've turned out today and Tuesday. Fucking sort it out before we get embarrassed at Alty next week and Rochdale the week after.

There’s a nagging doubt in my brain about Thompson being the man…

 

I cannot get away from the fact that he was/is head of recruitment and as such had to take some of the responsibility for the players we have on our books.

 

The last three games have raised too many questions …
 

In total, we’ve played 6 games in 19 days since we sacked Unsworth - won 3, drawn 3 - interim manager has steadied the ship I suppose…but I’m not sure he’s the one to get us sailing into the playoffs

Edited October 8, 2023 by TheBigDog

[penrhyn]

Yarddog is bang on in what is probably one of the best posts he has made . The last three games have highlighted why Unsworth set up the team to play the way they did.

Hope and Tollit have had there chance from the subs bench and not taken it although to be fair had limited time. Dont think Thompson had the final say on all the players probably recomended 2/3 per position . If he gets the job I can see him moving on a few including some of our much vaunted strike force .

[oafc1955]

3 hours ago, penrhyn said:

If he gets the job I can see him moving on a few including some of our much vaunted strike force .

One has to be Nuttall surely who will be on a wedge (can’t believe we actually paid a fee for this waster!) and maybe Fondop the other?

Would need another striker in then as we need 4 for the squad!

Edited October 8, 2023 by oafc1955

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

7 hours ago, TheBigDog said:

There’s a nagging doubt in my brain about Thompson being the man…

 

I cannot get away from the fact that he was/is head of recruitment and as such had to take some of the responsibility for the players we have on our books.

 

Which players have been an outright failure that he's brought in? No head of recruitment is going to have a 100% hit record. I'd suggest Hobson, Raglan, Lundstram, Reid and Dickenson were all decent signings and likely to have the ST approval since they all arrived after he came. Players like Willoughby, Nuttall and Shelton still have potential. When you compare that to the likes of Francis-Angol, Lois Maynard, Charlie Cooper etc. then it's clear to me he's had a positive effect. If there are players lacking the mentality that he's rightly called out we need (and I suspect a few he's talking about are still here as pre ST signings) he needs to be backed by the board in bringing those in.

 

For me the calibre of player dramatically improved since he came in.

[TheBigDog]

25 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Which players have been an outright failure that he's brought in? No head of recruitment is going to have a 100% hit record. I'd suggest Hobson, Raglan, Lundstram, Reid and Dickenson were all decent signings and likely to have the ST approval since they all arrived after he came. Players like Willoughby, Nuttall and Shelton still have potential. When you compare that to the likes of Francis-Angol, Lois Maynard, Charlie Cooper etc. then it's clear to me he's had a positive effect. If there are players lacking the mentality that he's rightly called out we need (and I suspect a few he's talking about are still here as pre ST signings) he needs to be backed by the board in bringing those in.

 

For me the calibre of player dramatically improved since he came in.

Don’t disagree yet we are still seeing the same old failings from the new guys…

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

24 minutes ago, TheBigDog said:

Don’t disagree yet we are still seeing the same old failings from the new guys…

 

Is it possible it takes more than ten months to bring in a virtually new team and new mentality?

[doctor evil]

8 hours ago, TheBigDog said:

There’s a nagging doubt in my brain about Thompson being the man…

 

I cannot get away from the fact that he was/is head of recruitment and as such had to take some of the responsibility for the players we have on our books.

 

The last three games have raised too many questions …
 

In total, we’ve played 6 games in 19 days since we sacked Unsworth - won 3, drawn 3 - interim manager has steadied the ship I suppose…but I’m not sure he’s the one to get us sailing into the playoffs

I'm not entirely convinced if we'd have left unsy in place we wouldn't have got pretty much the same points haul from those games. This was a dead easy run of fixtures. We saw in the first couple of games an improvement in attacking intent and energy levels but that's kind of ebbed away since.

[southwaleslatic]

Mr Unsworth should be nowhere near a football team again , his philosophy of don't let the other team score and maybe we can sneak one is just plain daft . Surely everybody knows you need to score goals to win games . He won 1 game in 10 , S Thompson has won 3 out of 6 and no losses . OAFC wasted at least 6 months in keeping Unsworth in the job .No way  he would have got 3 wins out of 6.

[LaticsPete]

1 hour ago, southwaleslatic said:

Mr Unsworth should be nowhere near a football team again , his philosophy of don't let the other team score and maybe we can sneak one is just plain daft . Surely everybody knows you need to score goals to win games . He won 1 game in 10 , S Thompson has won 3 out of 6 and no losses . OAFC wasted at least 6 months in keeping Unsworth in the job .No way  he would have got 3 wins out of 6.

He’s gone. Move on. 

[Steve_R]

2 hours ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Which players have been an outright failure that he's brought in? No head of recruitment is going to have a 100% hit record. I'd suggest Hobson, Raglan, Lundstram, Reid and Dickenson were all decent signings and likely to have the ST approval since they all arrived after he came. Players like Willoughby, Nuttall and Shelton still have potential. When you compare that to the likes of Francis-Angol, Lois Maynard, Charlie Cooper etc. then it's clear to me he's had a positive effect. If there are players lacking the mentality that he's rightly called out we need (and I suspect a few he's talking about are still here as pre ST signings) he needs to be backed by the board in bringing those in.

 

For me the calibre of player dramatically improved since he came in.

When you’re able to throw a lot more money at it the quality of players should improve. What we’re not seeing is significant improvements on the pitch. The football is still awful and clubs with a fraction of our support and money available are giving us the runaround 

[Steve_R]

1 hour ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Is it possible it takes more than ten months to bring in a virtually new team and new mentality?

Can be done though. Stevenage were battling with us to stay in the league two season ago. Now they’re fifth in the third division while we’re mid table two divisions below.

Gillingham were rock bottom of the football league when their new owners came in, having scored 7 goals in 24 games. Now they’re third in the league.

Transformations don’t have last for ever, and we need to get a bloody move on.

[Wardie]

53 minutes ago, LaticsPete said:

He’s gone. Move on. 

It was 'doctor evil' who raised the Unsworth point first and I think 'southwaleslatic' is quite correct in what he posted and has probably moved on, like the rest of us, although the legacy of what Unsworth did will dog us for a long time. Great post by Yarddog73 and, despite the effing and jeffing, pretty much sums it all up.

[deyres42]

48 minutes ago, Steve_R said:

When you’re able to throw a lot more money at it the quality of players should improve. What we’re not seeing is significant improvements on the pitch. The football is still awful and clubs with a fraction of our support and money available are giving us the runaround 

The quality of players has improved, we just need more of them.

[True Tic]

5 hours ago, doctor evil said:

I'm not entirely convinced if we'd have left unsy in place we wouldn't have got pretty much the same points haul from those games. This was a dead easy run of fixtures. We saw in the first couple of games an improvement in attacking intent and energy levels but that's kind of ebbed away since.

I disagree, the 3 nil loss against Bromley, the Dorking draw before , numerous games before that, then 3 wins and 3 draws , unbeaten in six, I just can’t see that happening under DU. I do feel we are slipping somewhat back to “type” though as each game passes which worries me and overall I don’t think we are anywhere near good enough for where we want to be. 

[penrhyn]

7 hours ago, oafc1955 said:

One has to be Nuttall surely who will be on a wedge (can’t believe we actually paid a fee for this waster!) and maybe Fondop the other?

Would need another striker in then as we need 4 for the squad!

In his Interview he talked about new players , I just think the ball doesnt stick enough up front apart from when it goes to Norwood which shouldnt be his primary job. He might want to trade for someone to partner Norwood.I would swap Nuttall and Fondop for a new better partner for Norwood. As well two midfielders a winger and a right back .

[Wardie]

1 hour ago, True Tic said:

I disagree, the 3 nil loss against Bromley, the Dorking draw before , numerous games before that, then 3 wins and 3 draws , unbeaten in six, I just can’t see that happening under DU. I do feel we are slipping somewhat back to “type” though as each game passes which worries me and overall I don’t think we are anywhere near good enough for where we want to be. 

I bet Thompson thinks or wanted to say "they are slipping back to type". Thompson knows what's required but there's the rub, the board won't back him unless he gets the job. A new man will want to assess the players in training [more time] and may come to a different conclusion regarding what is achievable with this group of players.

It's all up in the air.

[whittles left foot]

2 hours ago, penrhyn said:

I just think the ball doesnt stick enough up front apart from when it goes to Norwood

You must watch a different game to me.

[mcfluff1985]

6 hours ago, penrhyn said:

In his Interview he talked about new players , I just think the ball doesnt stick enough up front apart from when it goes to Norwood which shouldnt be his primary job. He might want to trade for someone to partner Norwood.I would swap Nuttall and Fondop for a new better partner for Norwood. As well two midfielders a winger and a right back .

 

3 hours ago, whittles left foot said:

You must watch a different game to me.

And me. Nuttall holds it better than Norwood